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ICGE-15-CH-07-Herath Residential Developments On Deep Engineered Fills
ICGE-15-CH-07-Herath Residential Developments On Deep Engineered Fills
Case Study
ABSTRACT: Many residential developments now involve significant geotechnical challenges to structure
performance due to the settlement behavior of engineered and non-engineered fills as well as natural compressible
soils. The option of shallow footings on deeper fills or sites underlain by soft soils where differential settlement is
critical is the preferred approach to mitigate costs of development although it may not be possible in some
situations unless ground improvement is carried out. Two case studies are presented as a practical application of
performance of shallow footings on such fills: these are a disused brick quarry site located 25 km South East of
Melbourne with fill thickness from zero to 15m and the second site located within Maribyrnong river flood plain-
6km from Melbourne CBD with recent controlled fill and historic uncontrolled fill underlain by soft alluvial clays
and highly compressible “Coode Island Silt”. This paper primarily discusses the monitoring and controlling of
settlement to satisfy the slab angular distortion requirements specified in the Australian Standards for Residential
slabs and footings, AS 2870-2011 and the construction of infrastructure.
1 INTRODUCTION
Many residential developments now involve Site 1 Former brick quarry site - Scoresby,
significant geotechnical challenges to structure Melbourne
performance due to the settlement behavior of
This site covers approximately 56 hectares and it is
engineered and non-engineered fills as well as
planned to construct 1000 dwellings on the site. The
natural compressible soils. The option of shallow site was first developed as a clay quarry and brick
footings on deeper fills or sites underlain by soft soils operation plant in the early 1960’s. After the quarry
where differential settlement is critical is the operations ceased, it was proposed to rehabilitate the
preferred approach to mitigate costs of development quarry pits by filling them for development of the
although it may not be possible in some situations site for residential use. Geologically the site is
unless ground improvement is carried out. Two case underlain by residual clays derived from siltstone and
studies are presented as a practical application of sandstone deposits which are of the Devonian age. The
performance of shallow footings on such fills: these residual clays are generally moderately reactive and the
are a disused brick quarry site located 25 km South depth to rock is often highly variable over short
East of Melbourne with fill thickness from zero to distances.
15m and the second site located within Maribyrnong
Site 2 Former Industrial site-Ascot Chase, Ascot
river flood plain- 6km from Melbourne Central
Vale
Business District (CBD) with recent controlled fill
and historic uncontrolled fill underlain by soft The Ascot Chase site is located within the
alluvial clays and highly compressible “Coode Island Maribyrnong river flood plain and it provides storage
Silt”. This paper discusses the following recent case for flood waters from the Maribyrnong River. It was
studies where it was possible to adopt shallow required to further fill the estate above the flood
foundations with appropriate structural design: level. The site had been filled in 1950s under
uncontrolled /semi controlled conditions to provide a
1. Site 1 Former brick quarry site - Scoresby, working platform for the then industrial complex.
Melbourne This historic fill is overlain by recent controlled fill
2. Site 2 Ascot Chase, Ascot Vale- Former Industrial placed in 2008-2013.
site
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Geologically the site is underlain by soft, alluvial differential deflection of 30mm, which is the safe
clays and highly compressible “Coode Island silts” limit for buildings where cracking is minor.
underlying the fill with further quaternary deposits at
depth but less compressible. Advice was required on 3.1 Earthwork specification
the earthworks for the areas to be filled with a view
to recommending foundation slabs, designing roads It was expected that with adequate engineering
and an embankment/dam structure. Given the control over quality and uniformity of fill material
requirement of shallow footings for the proposed and level of compaction, the residual and differential
housing structures, minimising the differential settlements in the fill could be minimised. In order to
settlements due to the fill was critical and strict achieve the performance requirements as per AS 2870
control over the earthworks was required. The (Standards Australia, 2011), the earthworks
earthworks were carried out under controlled specification for both sites was prepared. The
conditions with Level 1 supervision as defined in AS specification included removing organic material,
3798 (Standards Australia, 2007) in accordance with stockpiling, sourcing suitable material, testing,
an earthwork specification and settlement monitoring mixing/blending, moisture conditioning, placing the
was carried out. fill material, compaction and density testing and
surcharging as required.
3.2.3 Predicted settlement using laboratory 3.2.5 Evaluation and design consideration
consolidation model
The total settlement of 0-2 mm occurred during the
Given the high degree of compaction it was expected monitoring period of 2 years is an indication of
that the controlled fill would show “over satisfactory behaviour of settlements in the longer
consolidated” behaviour in the unsaturated state. term. Considering the settlement monitoring results,
Generally the soil compaction causes a significant the differential settlements within a residential lot
over consolidation effect (Leonards et al 1988). within the design life is not expected to be more than
However, it was considered prudent to assess the risk 30mm. This indicates that the slab angular distortions
of additional settlement that could occur if the fill is within the residential lots are within the specified
saturated. Although the risk is low because the fill limits given in Table 4.1 of AS 2870 (Standards
had been in place for several years, it was decided to Australia, 2011).
carry out consolidation tests on saturated samples.
Four consolidation tests were carried out on the 3.3 Ascot Chase site
undisturbed clay fill samples after saturation.
Engineering properties of the tested samples are 3.3.1 Methodology of earthworks
summarised in Table 2.
The main development issue at the Ascot Chase site
Table 2. Engineering properties of tested clay fill was consolidation settlement of the variably thick
Sample Depth m.c ɤb e0 Cc Cc/1+e0 soft alluvium clay and Coode Island Silt (CIS) layers
No (m) % up to 12m in depth across the site. Earth filling to
1 3.0 16.7 2.35 0.32 0.08 0.06 design levels as well as the application of surcharge
2 3.0 22.1 2.04 0.59 0.11 0.07 fill in some areas has resulted in large differential
3 4.0 17.1 1.96 0.59 0.15 0.09
settlements. Settlement monitoring continues to be
4 7.5 25.2 1.92 0.73 0.09 0.05
carried out in some areas and has indicated areas of
Note: m.c- moisture content, ɤb- Bulk density, Cc –
excessive settlements possibly due to a dam or a
Compression index, e0 – Initial void ratio,
previous wetland and subsequent filling has caused
additional settlements.
Low compression ratio (Cc/1+e0) values in the range Earthworks to raise the ground to design levels
of 0.05- 0.09 were obtained. This indicated that commenced in September 2008 and continued until
primary consolidation of the fill would be low even if November 2008. Additional surcharge fill equivalent
the fill became saturated. Considering the possibility to 15kPa was placed between May 2010 and June
of the total fill being saturated is highly unlikely, the 2013 to accelerate the consolidation process. This
risk of such settlement was considered very low. surcharge simulates the proposed structural load. The
approximate fill thickness including the surcharge
filling was 0.6-3.5m.
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ICGE Colombo – 2015
Settlement monitoring plates were installed 3.3.2 Evaluation and design considerations
immediately after the fill placed. These plates were
embedded at 1.0m depth below finished fill level Given the potential for excessive differential
with risers. settlement in some areas, predicted slab angular
distortions were not within the specified limits given
3.3.2 Observed/predicted settlements in AS 2870 (Standards Australia, 2011) for the
present conditions. Additional surcharge was used to
Settlement monitoring as at 30 April 2012 (3.5 years accelerate the settlement process within the specified
after commencement of filling) recorded total time in some areas identified.
settlement varying from 25-691mm with an average At both sites a set of geotechnical guidelines were
of 159mm. The thickness of CIS layers and applied also made available to make designers and builders
surcharge contributed to the high settlements. Log– aware of settlement issues so that buildings can be
time settlement curves indicated the time for designed and constructed to mitigate the long term
completion of primary consolidation settlement 100- distress and allow for long term settlements. Some
200 days from the commencement of filling followed important guidelines are as follows.
by secondary consolidation settlement. Further
monitoring carried out in November 2013 (5 years 1. Use of any foundation type other than a rigid slab
after the commencement of filling) revealed system directly on the existing controlled fill is
negligible settlement showing a “flattening “ not considered as suitable. A stiffened raft is
behaviour of settlement curves with the anticipating suitable.
remaining secondary settlement generally less than
30mm in most of the areas. 2. Dwelling slab shapes should be kept simple and
Some areas of the site showed continuing symmetrical and the loading to the rigid slab
settlement. Detailed settlement analysis based on the made constant. Adequate articulation and
thickness of CIS and consolidation parameters was limitations on construction type (no suspended
carried out to predict the remaining secondary slabs) is necessary.
settlement under the existing surcharge. This resulted
settlement varying from 25 to 120mm requiring 4 CONCLUSIONS
further surcharge fill. With the application of further
surcharge fill, it was aimed to reduce the remaining Engineering control over quality and uniformity of
secondary settlement in order to proceed with the fill material and level of compaction significantly
construction, with a final tolerable settlement of limits the residual and differential settlements in a
30mm for a design life of 50 years. Fig. 1 presents controlled fill. Variable thickness of soft,
typical expected behaviour for a period of 100 years. compressible layers can lead to excessive
total/differential settlements necessitating additional
ground improvement to satisfy the “tolerable”
settlement criteria in order to achieve acceptable
limits.
REFERENCES
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